Four weeks post treatment

It will go slowly, it is very early days yet, and it frequently gets worse for quite a few weeks. Don’t worry about it. Your bottom & other bits have been battered and burnt! Be patient. Have salt baths or use a portable bidet, which really help. I am 2 years post treatment in June, & I still get pain occasionally, along with frequent dashes to the toilet. 
Hang on in there, try not to worry & stay safe. Make yourself as comfortable as possible. 

Best wishes

Pam

Pam,

thank you so much for your reply, so reassuring.

keep safe

To start with I was waiting for my next painkiller dose, checking to see if I could take it yet. Then gradually I started forgetting. When I realised I didn’t need as much I came off the morphine slowly, reducing the dose each day.

Coming off painkillers completely took a couple of months. It was great to get my head clear!

I’m 6 months past treatment now and still sore going to the loo but mostly OK the rest of the time.

It gets easier, especially if you keep taking stool softeners.

best wishes,

Thank you for your reply. I thought that I would have been off them already. So good to know that I need to take my time. I am looking forward to having a clear head also.

Again thank you so much, 

Jeanette 

Hi there Caravan1956,

Firstly congratulations on completion of your treatment. 

As others have already said it is still early days for you yet but it will improve & it’s a gradual improvement that you don’t necessarily notice on a day to day basis, more of a realisation that you’ve not needed so many painkillers over the last week or that you’ve not needed them at all! I remember in the early days, especially after going to the loo, I’d be left with an awful ache/throbbing feeling but it  just gradually got less & less over time & now, 21 months post treatment, it rarely happens unless I get constipated, I think what I suffer then is an ache due to stenosis, so I try & make sure that the loo situation is always kept on the softer side! 

Nicola

Thank you for your reply.

Yes I think that it is all related to the loo situation.

I'll have to be more patient

thanks again, Jeanette  

Hi again Jeanette (Caravan1956)

It’s difficult trying to be patient once you’re through treatment though isn’t it? You’re just eager to get back to some kind of normality. 

Are you taking any softeners at all to help you going to the toilet? A lot of people suffer diarrhoea during & for a time after treatment but I swung completely the opposite way for some reason & have taken softeners since treatment finished & still do, sometimes, such as the last week, I have to take them twice a day! It’s always good to keep things on the softer side as no doubt you’ll have been told already the radiotherapy causes stenosis. 

Don’t worry about continuing with your pain relief, use it for as long as you need it. 

Hope things begin improving for you soon.

Nicola

Nicola, thank you for getting back to me. Yes I'm using laxido. Still trying to work out what time of day to use it so as I'm not too uncomfortable all night.

my appetite is poor at the moment. I was given supplement drinks but find them so sweet and sickening.

yes as you say throughout treatment I kept thinking I'll get through the treatment then that'll be me but I'm realising now that it doesn't work like that. 

Aw well onwards and upwards!

thank you, Jeanette 

I used to take my softener at night as I tend to go to the loo first thing in the morning after I’ve been up for 15-30 minutes but changed it & began trying it first thing in the morning as I was still struggling a bit, I found taking it in the morning suited me much better as they absorb water to bulk out your stools & I think giving it a full day to do this was better for me although I really have to remind myself to drink more throughout the day to help things along. 

Try not to worry you’ll get there.

Nicola

I'll give that a go and see how I get on. It is good to get tips etc from those who have been through it all.

thank you very much,

Jeanette